Greenyard has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Mykogen Polska S.A. (collectively “Mykogen”), a leading manufacturer of top quality mushroom substrate.
The company has four production facilities, located in Poland and Ukraine. Substrate is the key and highest value-added raw material used in mushroom production. Mykogen’s quality growing media are essential in producing high quality mushrooms in the growing production markets of Central and Eastern Europe.
The vast majority of Mykogen’s operations are in Poland, Europe’s largest mushroom producer. During the last 4 years, Mykogen’s sales growth has exceeded 8% per annum (CAGR) with FY 2017 sales expected to approach € 40 million.
The addition of Mykogen to Greenyard yields a number of important strategic benefits, Greenyard explains. Firstly, Greenyard further enhances its direct connection to the grower by becoming a key supplier to the major mushroom growers.
Secondly, increasing its access to hand-picked and mechanically harvested mushrooms the group strengthens its positioning in the mushroom market place creating opportunities for cross-divisional synergies with the Fresh, Frozen, Prepared (Lutèce) and Horticulture divisions within Greenyard.
Thirdly, the growing production volumes of the highly value added substrates in Poland, Ukraine and neighbouring markets are beneficial to the group’s growth rate.
Lastly, the transaction raises the strategic profile of its Horticulture business, positioning it for further strategic development, while at the same time improving Greenyard’s margin structure and reducing earnings volatility.
Transaction Details The purchase price is approximately € 93 million. In 2016, Mykogen achieved EBITDA of approximately € 13.5 million (roughly 80% of the EBITDA was generated from the Polish operations).
Source: Fresh Plaza
Currently chief executive of GreenV – an international group of companies active in the horticultural sector – van Karnebeek spent a large portion of his career at Heineken, working in commercial, marketing and general management positions. He served as chief commercial officer at the Dutch brewer from 2015 until 2021.
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